How Well Did My Bucket Mouse Trap Work? Here Are the Results

In an effort to keep the mice out of my camper and doing more damage to it, I had to resort to drastic measures. Old fashioned mouse traps would only catch one at a time if I left camp for the week. I needed something better because the mice were the worst we had seen them in years.

So a bunch of us built bucket mouse traps. You take a 5 gallon bucket, drill some holes to insert a dowel that spins freely on a rod, fill the bucket halfway with water, spread peanut butter on the dowel and make ramps for the mice to walk up to get the peanut butter. The mice will spin off the dowel and drop into the bucket.

Pretty disappointed. I set the trap Sunday and placed it on the floor of the camper and got just one. I can do that with an old fashioned mouse trap.

So the next Sunday I set the trap again, but this time had the base of one ramp right inside the cabinet under the sink. This is where we see the most evidence of mice and where I catch the most with a regular mouse trap

Double the mice, but only two. I know these little b------- are in there, I can hear them in the walls behind my head when I'm sleeping!

Some people at camp are leaving them over the winter and using water and anti-freeze in the bucket. That should keep the bucket from freezing and the mice from decomposing. I didn't want to go that route so my mouse battle is over for the season.